Story: Beef farming
In the early days, farming cattle was less profitable than sheep, as there was only a small market for their meat. Cattle were mostly run where sheep could not be grazed successfully, such as in swamps and bush country. This painting, probably from the 1860s, shows cattle grazing swamplands on Nigger Heads farm by the Hororātā River, near the Canterbury foothills.
About this item
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: E-501-f-005
Watercolour by Theodore Octavius Hurt
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.